As many readers may know—especially those who wander over here from The Wild Hunt—the Druid Network in the UK recently received official recognition as a charity, something similar to getting federal 501(c)3 tax status in the United States.
The process they went through was described in greater detail by Alison Shaffer, a guest poster at The Wild Hunt.
The news prompted a snarky column by one Melanie Phillips at the Daily Mail, Britain’s second-largest newspaper, titled, “Druids as an official religion?”
Will someone please tell me this is all a joke. Until now, Druids have been regarded indulgently as a curious remnant of Britain’s ancient past, a bunch of eccentrics who annually dress up in strange robes at Stonehenge to celebrate the summer solstice.
Of course there was an online petition, which has been or will soon be delivered to the Daily Mail. But last week a few Pagans carried to the protest directly to the newspaper’s offices.
More links here about the petition and what happened.
The Daily Mail is a stupid newspaper, and Philips is a stupid journalist, but she had the right to write what she did.
More widely, I think it’s wrong the Druid Network to get charitable status. I think organisations, whether religious or secular, should only have charitable status when doing something that is demonstrably for the common good. Christian groups should get charitable status for maintaining mediaeval churches, which are part of the common historical/architectural heritage, or for running soup kitchens for homeless people; but not for proselytism, political campaigns, or new central heating. If Druids want to start Pagan soup kitchens, or buy and maintain stone circles, then they should have charitable status, but not publishing magazines.